Badlapur sexual assault accused fires at police, dies in retaliatory firing

Badlapur sexual assault case: Man accused of sexual assault dies in police firing after snatching gun, sparking protests and calls for investigation.

The 24-years-old Akshay Shinde, accused in the Badlapur sexual assault case, was shot dead by police on Monday after he snatched the gun of one of the officers and opened fire on them, police said.

Thane crime branch visited Taloja jail at 5:30 p.m. to take him in custody in a fresh case filed by his wife related to sexual assault. The police team approached the Mumbra bypass around 6:30. p.m., which is when he grabbed a weapon from one of the constables and shot him, as per the Thane Police.

During the incident, a police personnel Nilesh More was injured. While speaking to the media, Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis confirmed the death of Akshay Shinde. He said, “He opened fire on police personnel and in the air too, police fired on him in self-defence. The preliminary information that we have is that he has died, doctors are yet to announce.”

Akshay Shinde was arrested in the case of two minors for sexually assaulting them at a school in Badlapur town of Maharashtra’s Thane district.

Meanwhile, the opposition has called it an “encounter’ and demanded an inquiry into it. Nana Patole, Maharashtra Congress president posted on X, saying, “ The school’s trustees have not been arrested yet in the Badlapur atrocities case. They are absconding. Why can’t they be arrested yet? Is there an attempt to save the absconding accused or to wrap up the case by encountering the main accused in the case?”

He further questioned, “Is the police encountering the accused as part of a senior-level effort to suppress the entire issue? The entire matter should be investigated by a sitting judge of the High Court to reveal the truth.”